Next Adventure - Departing June 2011

Hmmmm? Where shall we go? It's been an interesting period of time and God threw us a little curveball in the direction of our life as Bart's contract begins to come to a close here in Switzerland. Many of you know the journey of "are we staying in Switzerland or moving back?" over the last couple years due to various elements outside of our control. Additionally, the economy and financial services climate changed to such a degree since we left for Switzerland that we didn't anticipate very many options on our return. It's just how things have been over the past couple years and I'm sure everyone can certainly appreciate that.


We had known for some time there was room for Bart in the Minneapolis office and there didn't seem to be another logical place for him opening up based on everything we knew. So we have grown accustomed to the thought over time. Bart has family there, we have some relocated friends/acquaintances and Des Moines isn't too far away so we felt that we could get comfortable there. Even though it's COLD there (ooo you betcha, Uff da).

And I had, I'm serious!, told Bart when we were engaged to "Please don't ever make me move to Minnesota." (post trip to MN at Thanksgiving to meet parents and the lakes in the Big Woods were frozen - they were already ice fishing)


And I've been eating those words for a while as we started considering our move next year.


But a suggestion was made a few months ago. And we thought about it. Then the suggestion became a reality. And we had to make a choice. All I can say is that it's easier to be 'told' where to go than to be given a choice in some circumstances. Because it wasn't an easy choice based on the locations. We did all our "research" and put a lot of prayer and thought into this and ultimately, as that door stayed open and was not closing, it just felt more and more right. We were thankful and grateful to have a choice - it was not expected - thank you Firm.

This is what our girlies looked like when we left CA: This is pretty close to what they'll look like returning to CA:

Bart will be returning to the San Francisco office and we will be looking to move back to the East Bay - somewhere. Full Circle.

We are excited on many levels (How many of you are a little surprised I'm willingly moving back to CA? I am! God really softened my heart). One of the factors is giving the girls a family base with their cousins while they're still 'at home.' As the "Bianco girls" have been late bloomers in the baby department, there are 5 little cousins in HI and 1 (soon to be 2) in So Cal, and my sisters and I are so very, very excited to be closer in proximity. At one time we were spread out between Switzerland, Australia and Hawaii!

So although we are a bit sad now that the prospect of re-connecting with some MidWest friends/family has changed, we know we are committed visitors to MN. Bart's Mom & Dad will still be expecting us of course and we'll probably have more time with them as we won't have to squeeze in the combined CA/MN summer trip.

We also look forward to reconnecting with CA friends that we don't get the chance to visit on those squeezed in summer trips.

So - that's the latest and if the METRODOME ceiling collapse doesn't just have "sign from God" all over it, I don't know what else we could use as positive confirmation! :)

Hope all of you in MN/IA are staying warm and safe right now! Love to all.